Google+ Engagement Soars Across Europe for IT Retailers

LONDON - Sept. 23, 2014 - PRLog -- Google+ Engagement Soars Across Europe for IT Retailers
UK leads the way. Tesco’s and Shop Direct’s followers rocket

London 23^rd September 2014, Europe’s top ICT retailers have seen their Google+ followers and account activity grow exponentially since May, outstripping Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, with the UK leading the way, according to new data from CONTEXT.

The market analyst has been studying the social media performance of 49 of the region’s major IT retailers, including electronics specialists and generalist stores both on- and offline for the past two quarters.

It found that overall Google+ page views for these retailers grew 38% from May to August while followers soared 32%.

By comparison, Facebook likes (8%), YouTube subscriber numbers (8%) and YouTube views (4%) grew nowhere near as strongly.

At this rate Google+ will overtake You Tube in number of views by March 15 according to the CONTEXT Social Media Ranking, although caution should be applied in making a direct comparison as Google+ counts views even if a user scrolls right past. “Impression” or “reach” would be more accurate, as these “views” can be accumulated if others share your content with their followers.

Twitter was the only social platform close to Google+, with the number of followers signing up to official retailer accounts up 21% and tweets up 13% from May to August.

The UK is emerging as the Google+ capital of Europe when it comes to IT retailing.

Although UK and Spain were neck and neck last quarter with 250,000 followers across those brands studied, that figure has grown by 69% over the period to reach 416,000 in the UK in August, while in Spain the number of Google+ followers grew by just 4%.

When it comes to type of store, specialist electronics retailers saw their Google+ follower numbers grow at a much faster rate (62%) than general merchants (22%) over the period in Europe as a whole.

E-commerce firms also saw their Google+ followers increase at a significantly greater rate (66%) than regular retailers (22%) across the region.

The UK’s Littlewoods and Argos brands are a major driving force behind this Google+ e-tailer growth, CONTEXT said.

In fact, Argos has just forced its way into the European top ten in terms of Google+ views; up 88% to 3.7 million from May to August.

In terms of followers, there were some truly spectacular growth figures.

Tesco recorded the biggest % growth in Google+ followers, rising from just 41 in May (number 30 in the rankings) to 61,268 in August (number 6) – an exponential increase of 149,334%. The UK leader JLP only rose 7% in the same period. Shop Direct also rose exponentially from 131 followers in May (number 27 in the rankings) to 76,856 in August (number 4) – an increase of 58,569%.

“People are starting to wake up to the interest of Google+”, comments Adam Simon, Global Managing Director of Retail Business Development for CONTEXT. “They see the linkages between content on Google+ which is indexed in Google Search, and they like the functionality. Above all it is those who get in now who can build up a competitive lead.”

About CONTEXT
Headquartered in London with over 200 staff in 15 countries, CONTEXT specialises in tracking technology sales and pricing across the globe. Supported by the largest Distribution Channel Sales Database in the world, CONTEXT tracks Channel sales in most countries across EMEA where we are the official data partners with all members of the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC). CONTEXT reports and services enable our customers to assess their business operations in the light of actual sell out figures, and make business critical decisions based on hard data. Follow us on Twitter: @contextworld.com or visit our website: www.contextworld.com

Media contacts
Funda Cizgenakad
Funda@contextworld.com
Tel: +44 7876 616 246